Bonus: The last slide is an exclusive cover reveal for author Tiya Rayne’s upcoming novel Where Love is Found. Don’t miss it.

The world offers so much, that thinking of what would be the ultimate vacation may be hard for some. Even when considering all of the prospective destinations, none of it means much if I can’t find what I’m looking for when traveling.

I think venturing out into the world is more than it’s cracked up to be. Basically, I don’t find stuffing of my life into some suitcases and my person into some mode of transport to traverse the earth particularly thrilling, especially considering my traveling track record.

I spent most of my life in one spot, acquiring my knowledge of the world through books and documentaries. It wasn’t until I was older, that my marriage to a wonderful husband who loves to explore the world that I started to travel, and I did not take extremely well to it.

Basically, I like seeing the world, I just don’t like doing the packing, driving, flying, etc. to see it.

Therefore, the perfect vacation for me would be an empty house with the world coming to me, well the part that would do the cooking and cleaning while I get to eat and read in bliss. The rest of the world will be shut out, except for Papa Bear. It’s been too long since either one of us has truly enjoyed domestic quietude with each other.

I love reading authors’ favorite lines from their books. Many authors take a lot of time and energy to draft particularly poignant prose (that alliteration is not an example), to grab readers’ attention and offer some inspiration, humor, humanity—a bunch of stuff.

I’m a little daunted to find some of my favorite lines from my book—singular…as in only one written so far—because I’ve spent so much time with my words. It’s difficult to step back and look at something I took so long to make cohesive and fluid as layers of individual components.

Failure, or fear of it, is very effective at making both the timid and bold hesitant. Even just the thought that success won’t be achieved is enough to keep one stagnant. So, having the barrier produced by a fear of failure is refreshing and makes the mind run rampant. Mine has, and I shall now have at it.

As I went through school as a kid and during my college years, I encountered one disturbing constant. My education was always tainted by implicit and explicit bias and racism from either my fellow students, faculty or administration. Continue reading “Failsafe from Failing Students”→

Ramadan is a special holiday for Muslims all over the world. Those who are able to spend daylight hours fasting and engaged in increased worship, which is the primary purpose of the month.

But when the sun sets, there are 30 days of some of the best eating of the year. Whether at home with family, invited to neighbors and friends homes, or visiting one of the many large community meals, the food is fantastic.

Here in the United States, the diverse American Muslim population means that break-fast meals (known as iftar) can have a cornucopia of food from people of native-born (i.e. African American, Latinx American, Native American, European American) and immigrant Muslim backgrounds.

One staple dish in my family is baked ziti. I make a big pan to feed my husband and kids fasting for a couple of days. I will also make a couple of pans to bring to my local masjid (mosque) for a community meal. I always bring home empty pans.

Recipe

People often romanticize the idea of the first time, which-ironically-I as a romance writer tend not to do.

Steeped in perfection-only the best parts about doing and/or experiencing something are brought to the front of our memories and shared. Even when the experience is not so fantastic, we tend to tell it as a form of comical relief. Not exclusively, but we frequently do sugar coat and look forward to doing or seeing things for the first time, despite the actual quality of the experience.

If you had the option to know the date of your death, would you want to know?

Death is something that we as humans generally avoid like—well—death. We spend an incredible amount of time, energy and money during our waking hours keeping the Big Sleep at bay.

It motivates a lot of the things we do and buy. Billions are spent on pills, potions and procedures. Even after death, more money is dumped into preserving bodies from becoming rotting carcasses. It’s been that way for millennia. I’m looking at you, Egyptian Pharaohs.

Look at those big things, and what they did to the bodies *gag*. That’s how uncomfortable people generally are with the idea of dying. So why the heck would anyone want to know when they’re dying? Continue reading “Death on a Calendar”→